Fish Tail
by Agent Malkere
Summary: It's a secret he wants to keep and she wants to find out. AU.
1. Change

_Fish Tails _

The dark ocean waves licked and lapped at the edges of the pier and the salt spray blew in his face causing shivers of anticipation to run through his entire body despite the warm night air. It had been nearly two nights since he had been able to sneak out of the Slifer Dorm to come down to the pier and his body ached with the need to Change. Chazz pulled his shirt off over his head laying it on the boards next to his jacket, socks, and shoes, leaving his pants and belt on. He had discovered years ago that he didn't need to take these last articles of clothing off – they would Change with him and also prevented embarrassing accidents.

The young duelist stood at the very edge of the boards, staring down into the swirling blackness dotted with shattered moonlight, smiling to himself. Then raising his arms over his head, Chazz dove in. He felt a surge off energy rush through his veins. His entire body seemed to sigh in relief at its final freedom, the ached in his chest and arms and legs suddenly disappearing as though they had never existed. He let out all the air in his lungs and breathed deeply in the dark cradle of the water and then opened his eyes. The painfully intense salt of the ocean should have caused his eyes to sting and turn red with tears – if he had been a normal human that was. But he wasn't. Chazz had an extremely rare recessive genetic glitch – so rare that neither of his brothers even had it – that caused him the Change in water.

It wasn't something that caused him pain – the doctors had told his parents when they had first discovered their youngest son's strange reaction to water that Changing caused a huge amount of endorphins to be released in his brain making him enjoy the Change. Truth be told, he was much happier in the water than on land – he felt more at home there, but he was seldom able to find time on his own so that he could Change without being seen. No one outside of the Princeton family knew about his peculiar condition and they preferred for it to stay that way.

Change complete, Chazz ran his hands along the smooth, dark, gray-blue scales which covered what had been his legs before. His black hair floated around his head in an inky cloud, the ocean currents making it ripple and dance. Turning his gaze downward, several swift beats of his powerful tail propelled Chazz quickly downward until he was resting gently on the silt and sand of the ocean floor beneath the pier. He nestled himself into the tangle of green plants which grew there and sighed in contentment as the water lulled him to sleep. He was too tired to swim properly tonight – he'd just have to wake up extra early tomorrow.

--

As usual, he woke up just as the dawn was beginning to color the horizon. Good, he could get in some satisfying swimming in before he had to Change back and run back to Slifer Red to change his pants which would be completely drenched.

After a good hour or so, he forced himself to head back to land – he didn't want to be late for classes. Slowly he swam back up to the edge of the pier, so he could pull himself out – it was much, _much_ easier for Chazz to Change back when he wasn't fully submerged in water; it took far less concentration. Reaching up he reluctantly grabbed the edge of the boards and started to haul himself up, only to curse and let go again once he saw the pair of feet standing a few feet away from him, inspecting his abandoned pile of clothes curiously with a toe. The person turned to face him upon hearing his muffled curse and Chazz performed probably the fasted revert of his life, and the strange black/blue markings which feathered down from the corners of his eyes down his neck and then spread like cobwebs across his shoulders, back, and chest (for some reason always the last part of his appearance to become normal again), were just fading away when Alexis Rhodes peered down into the water at him. He lifted an arm again towards the boards, wincing now at the pain that came as a result of Changing back too quickly. Water dripped off the end off his nose as Chazz pulled himself out hoping against hope that Alexis hadn't seen anything.

"Out swimming," he mumbled in hopes that that would suffice as an explanation and let out an internal sigh of relief when she only raised an eyebrow at him.

However, unbeknownst to him, his luck was running extremely low that day.

Alexis frowned slightly as she turned and headed back up the pier without saying a word. That had been weird. Why was Chazz, of all people, out swimming off the end of the pier while wearing slacks? Strange as that was, what was stranger still were the odd markings that Alexis thought she had seen on his face when he first surfaced but, when she had looked again, had disappeared. Shaking her head, Alexis continued her walk back towards Obelisk Blue.

--

Chazz was just sitting down, his hair still damp from his late night/early morning excursion, as Professor Banner began his lecture.

"Today, my students, we are going to be talking about the Merchildren." Professor Banner's eyebrows bobbed up and down enthusiastically as he announced this. Chazz stared at the teacher with his mouth hanging open slightly. Why did they have to have an Alchemy professor at Duel Academy?

"Now, the Merchildren," Banner continued, "are not just the creations of stories – there have been actual documented accounts of their existence, though, not a great deal is known about them. To look at a Merchild out of the water, you would never guess that they are any different from you or I. It is only in water that the distinction can be made."

An obnoxious Ra Yellow boy waved his hand in the air and was permitted to ask his question.

"Professor, are you saying that there are actual _mermaids_ swimming around that can live in _and_ out of water?"

"Yes, though I'm sure that not all of them would appreciate being referred to as 'mermaids.' Women are not the only people who can be Merchildren – men can be as well."

_You bet they don't like being referred to as 'mermaids'_ Chazz thought in annoyance as Banner continued his lecture.

"When a Merchild is put into salt water, he or she instantly under goes a Change, wherein their legs fuse together and lengthen to form a tail, fins come up on the upper and lower arms and a somewhat taller and longer dorsal fin appears along the spine stretching from the first vertebrae of the spine all the way down to the base of the lower back. Dark markings which are believed to be used as camouflage and resemble the pattern of light through water also appear across the Merchild's face, neck, shoulders, chest, and back. These water marking are unique to each individual, like a finger print." Alexis sat up a little straighter in her seat as Professor Banner put up a picture of a fully Changed Merchild on the screen behind him. The water marks looked extremely similar to the ones she had thought had been on Chazz's face. "In salt water, the urge to Change can only be resisted for a matter of moments with extreme concentration. However, in fresh water, the need is not so great and therefore things like, say, showers or rain, do not become a problem – usually. However-" Whatever Professor Banner had been intending to say next was drowned out as he was consumed by a cloud of sulfurous yellow smoke. The array of test tubes which had been gently bubbling and fizzing behind him had exploded without warning – not an unusual occurrence. Banner coughed and looked distressed as the fumes cleared. "Ohhh! Those were for next period!"

Chazz spent the rest of the period resisting both the erg to squirm uncomfortably in his seat and also the want to raise his hand and correct some of the things the professor was saying. It was a relief when the class was over, even though the odious Dr. Crowler's lesson was up next. The day dragged on with painful slowness and Chazz had finished off both of the water bottles he had brought with him and was still thirsty by the time lunch break finally arrived.

Jaden and Syrus caught up to Chazz as he was bending over the water fountain. He rolled his eyes as Jaden began to bounce up and down – why couldn't they ever take the hint and leave him alone?

"The end of the world is coming sooner than anybody expected," announced Sy once the black coated Slifer finally straightened up. Chazz raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because Jaden not only stayed awake through an entire class – he took _notes _as well, _proper_ notes, _detailed_ notes!"

He stared at the short blue haired teen in utter shock and disbelief, but Sy's claims were soon confirmed by Jaden himself, who was still bouncing happily from foot like a red bouncy ball.

"How could I sleep through a class like that? It was so cool! Those merkids sound like living duel monsters! That's so awesome!"

_Great, I've been classified as a duel monster,_ thought Chazz morosely.

"I mean, they should have an Elemental Hero card for them!"

_Elemental Hero? Hm. I guess I could deal with that. _

"What's this about Elemental Heroes?" asked Alexis, joining the group.

"Jaden was saying that there should be an Elemental Hero card for the Merchildren Professor Banner was telling us about," summarized Syrus concisely.

"Really? That would be a cool card."

_Alexis thinks it's cool? I could definitely go for that!_

"Yeah, I'm gonna write Chumly and tell him my idea!" replied Jaden proudly, momentarily ceasing his bouncing. Jaden pulled the notes he had taken out of his pocket and eagerly showed them to Alexis, who looked over them appreciatively.

"Wow, Jaden! I didn't know you even knew how to take notes! These are amazing!"

"Thanks!"

"Could I barrow them?" she asked as turned over yet another page that was covered back and front with writing. Jaden had almost written down everything Professor Banner had said word for word.

"Sure, Lex." Suddenly distracted by the rumbling of his stomach, Jaden changed the topic. "Come on, let's head back to the dorm – I'm _starving_!"

"You're always hungry, Jay," grumbled Sy, nonetheless also turning to head back for Slifer. Chazz trailed reluctantly behind them. He didn't really want to eat, though, he could definitely go for some more to drink – he was just extremely thirsty today for some reason. And the ach that Changing usually resolved had already started again. Before he had been able to go for nearly a month without the need to Change, but in the past few weeks Chazz had been barely able to make it three days before the ach became unbearable. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and quickened his pace to catch up with Jaden and Syrus some.

Alexis lagged purposefully behind and then, when she was certain none of her friends wouldn't notice, she darted back inside the main Academy building and headed for Professor Banner's classroom where she knew he would still be cleaning up after his last class. Banner looked up from the smashed and melted remains of his latest demonstration when she ran in.

"Oh, hello Alexis. Did you forget something?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you a question, if it's alright."

"But of course! What is it that you would like to know?"

"Well," Alexis began a little hesitantly. "Just before those test tubes exploded you where saying that Merchildren could easily resist the erg to Change in fresh water – normally – and you never got back to why they might Change in fresh water as well."

"Ah, yes, I do remember that! This time when even fresh water poses problems occurs when a Merchild is around sixteen or seventeen. Their body requires that they Change far more often than an adult or a child and they consume huge amounts of water. Every time the Merchild becomes wet during this period, at least some part of their physicality Changes – usually the water marking appear on their faces. They themselves do not normally understand what is happening to them and often find it quite frightening. Call it the Merchild version of growing pains."

"Thank you, Professor Banner. That was exactly what I wanted to know." Alexis turned and ran to catch up with her friends.

--

That night after Alexis had finished her homework she went over Jaden's notes again and then took the time to write out her own copy for future reference. Maybe she was letting her imagination run wild with a trick of the light but what if… what if she was right? For some reason she was desperately curious to know and she was strangely hoping that the answer would be that it had not just been a trick of the light.

With a sigh, Alexis opened the volume that she had discovered in the library after lunch and began to leaf through it. There were so many fascinating books in the library if you just knew where to look. The volume in her hands looked ancient and probably hadn't been checked out in years. The pages crackled ever so slightly under her touch and after turning a couple of pages too quickly, Alexis was rewarded with a face full of dust. As she read she had the crazy feeling that she should be wearing a pointy black hat and cackling every now and then as she threw parts of small, innocent animals into a boiling cauldron. Having no pointy black hats or cauldrons readily available, Alexis gave the cackling a try just for the heck of it – and felt absolutely ridiculous. She needed to go to bed before she started thinking in Shakespearian verse, which was what the book was practically written in.

Slipping a bookmark in to mark her place Alexis shut the book and turned off her lamp, too late remembering that her lamp had been the only light on in her room. In the inky blackness which ensued Alexis somehow managed to knock over her lamp. She muttered a curse to herself as she heard the bulb break. Great. She stood very still so as not to destroy any more of the contents of her room and contemplated the darkness for several minutes letting her eye adjust. Eventually the dim out lines of the furniture could be made out and she could see clearly of her window again.

Just as she looked, Alexis glimpsed a dark figure dart across the grass and head quickly down the path towards the Lighthouse. Feeling like a stalker, Alexis crept stealthily out of her room, finally able to see where she was going, and also slipped out of the Slifer dorm.


	2. Books and Rain

_A/N: (sits and stares at computer screen in disbelief) Wow… people actually reviewed this story… Yeah! I love you guys!!! Hmm… guess this means I have to do that disclaimer I forgot about in the first chapter now, don't I? _

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the space between my ears and a computer – a very dangerous combination. **

_Right, on with the story… _

Alexis stopped as she reached the bottom of the path and looked around for any sign of the boy she had been following but saw nothing. She walked slowly down to the edge of the pier sighing in frustration when she once again found only the pile of clothes. There was no sign of their owner. The waves hissed and splashed as they lapped against the pier, almost sounding like they were laughing at her. They would have had good reason for laughing at her, too, because unbeknownst to Alexis the person she was looking for was fast asleep about ten feet directly below her.

--

_The ten year old struggled in his older brothers' grasp, desperately trying to get away. _

"_No! No!" There were tears rolling from the corners of his eyes as the boys held him upside down by the ankles. Their hands felt like iron clamps. He could smell the chlorine in the water below him. Water was usually his friend, his refuge; his place of safety from his brothers and from the world, but every part of his being told him that this water was evil. It would hurt him; it would kill him. _

_They sneered at him as they slowly lowered him closer and closer to the pool's surface. The boy recoiled upward as the ends of his black hair brushed against it. One of them started to laugh. _

"_I don't know why we didn't think of this before, Slade! Maybe this will teach you some work ethnic, Slacker!" _

"_Teach you not to lose any more duels! Teach you not to dishonor the Princeton name!" _

"_No! No! I tried! I did my best!" He was screaming with fear now._

"_Well then, your best just wasn't good enough!" And with that they plunged him head first into the deadly chlorinated water. _

_He tried to hold his breath as he struggled and thrashed to break above the surface. His eyes were squeezed tight shut but the little boy could feel the contaminated water burning his sensitive skin. Suddenly he felt a jolting pain in his stomach as a swift kick caused him to reflexively expel his lungful of air and automatically breathe in the poison that surrounded him. _

_It was like breathing in fire or acid. He screamed in pain and ceased thrashing, too overwhelmed to continued fighting his brothers. After another ten seconds of agony, which to him felt like an eternity, he was hauled out and unceremoniously dumped on the pool's edge. As his brothers' footsteps walked away, he rolled over onto his knees and, bent double, began to cough up the terrible chlorinated water. There was a hideous salty, metallic taste in his mouth and when he finally managed to open his eyes he found that wasn't just coughing up water – he was coughing up blood, too. _

Chazz awoke with a scream, which, under water, came out as an eerie reverberating note almost like a whale call. Taking a long shaky breath, he leaned against the bottom of the pier rubbing his chest with one hand. It had just been a dream, well a memory taking on the semblance a nightmare, really. It didn't matter exactly what it was, all that mattered was that now it was over and it would never happen again. He was safe in Duel Academy now. His brothers couldn't touch him here, though they had tried.

Shaking off the other memories this brought up, Chazz swam to the surface. He needed to be heading back to the Slifer dorm – he didn't want to have any repeat performances of yesterday. Peaking over the edge of the pier to make sure nobody was there, he Changed as he pulled himself out, and then gathered his clothes and shoes and headed back towards his dorm room.

--

From her seat high in the back of the classroom, Alexis watched Chazz trailed in after Syrus and Jaden with his books under one arm. His hair looked damp again. Well, she _had_ found his clothes lying on the pier again last night. Sighing, the Obelisk Blue opened the volume that she had brought with her and began to read again. At least this book wasn't written in verse; last night Alexis had had some of the strangest dreams – everyone in them had been talking like they where in a Shakespeare play, including Hassleberry and Jaden and that was just down right disturbing!

Her eyes scanned the pages as she waited for class to start – Professor Crowler, who was teaching their first class this morning, was late. A particular paragraph in the text caught her attention:

_It is believed that less than one in two million people actually possess and exhibit the traits of the gene which allows a Merchild to Change. Because they are so rare, it is very likely that a Merchild may live out his or her entire life and never meet another of their kind. This isolation can have a wide range of psychological side effects including: depression, antisocial behavior, the inability to relate to others, lack of self confidence, and the need to prove themselves to others. Often these problems are added to because it is not unusual for parents of a Merchild to reject their offspring or not accept them as a proper part of the family. If not the parents, then any older siblings in the family will usually refuse to recognize them. This is not always the case but it is certainly not uncommon. _

Alexis stopped reading as Dr. Crowler finally arrived and began the lesson, but she couldn't concentrate. This was all just too interesting.

_This is somebody else's life I'm prying into_, she reminded herself reproachfully. _But it's so interesting…!_ Countered another part of her mind, which, ultimately, was the part that always won her internal arguments. This time was no different.

By the time lunch rolled around Alexis had managed to pay attention to less than half of what any of her teachers had had to say and outside the sky had become dark and overcast. Collecting her books together, the Obelisk Blue decided it would be best to make a mad dash to her dorm room so that she would hopefully be able to beat the oncoming rain.

Rain… Rain was water, albeit fresh water, but it was still water… and, knowing her friends, they would probably be soaked by the time they arrived at the Slifer Dorm…. Her face light up with a mischievous grin. Oh, yes – this had potential! Now all she had to do was get back to the Red dorm before Chazz did…

--

A single, large raindrop plummeted from the sky and landed with a splat on Chazz's shoulder. The black haired teenager turned his glaze to glower at the ominous skies overhead as if daring the clouds to even think of trying something like that again. Jaden and Syrus paused in their cheerful conversation momentarily and glanced back at their stoically silent companion.

"Ya know, Chazz, I don't think glaring at the clouds is going to do much good to stop the rain from coming." Jaden grinned at his rival in an annoyingly hyper and perky way. Chazz simply let out a low growl in response. Shrugging, Jaden turn his attention once more to Syrus and, as if on cue, the heavens opened up. Icy rain pored down, drenching all three students within seconds as they began to run. The path to the Slifer dorm was quickly turning into slippery mud and a wrong step sent Chazz sprawling and cursing. The other two, unaware of the absence of their more morose counter part, continued running full tilt for the protection of the Slifer Dorm.

Hauling himself rather shakily to his elbows and then his knees, Chazz pressed an arm to his forehead in an attempt to make his head stop spinning. It felt like pulses of electricity were crackling through every nerve in his body. It felt like he was about to Change – _shit_ – and he was fighting it with every ounce of being. Getting a tail in the middle of a muddy path was not exactly the best way to keep a secret. Struggling to his feet, the young duelist began to stagger his way back towards the dorm. If he didn't get there quickly, Chazz had an awful feeling that he would pass out and then who knew what might happen.

The whole thing felt like a scene out of a movie – Chazz almost expected lonesome, dramatic background music to start playing at any time as he picked his way through the mud, starting to shake from the combination of cold and repressing the need to Change. Never in all his life had he ever been so happy to finally reach the Slifer Dorm. He stumbled inside drawing stares from other dry students who where already busily eating their lunches. Ignoring their curious looks, Chazz stalked up to his room, so self absorbed that he didn't even notice Alexis watching him with an odd look of satisfaction on her face. All the youngest Princeton wanted was a long, hot shower and then the soft dry refuge of his bed. Swaying back and forth ever so slightly on his feet, he pulled open his door. He felt absolutely terrible and if the Ojamas even thought about bothering him, he would leave them on his window sill in the rain and not feel the slightest bit of remorse. Fortunately, the three Ojama brothers apparently got their boss's telepathic death threat and didn't even think about bothering him.

--

"See? I told you he wears mascara and eyeliner and this proves it! It must not be very good quality, though, the mascara looked like it was running really badly!" Alexis rolled her eyes as she heard the red headed Slifer girl babbling to her friend. Some people were so unobservant sometimes. Since when had mascara ever had the ability to run _up_ somebody's face? And anyway, she knew for a fact that Chazz didn't know the first thing about makeup. Last year when they were both still staying in the Obelisk Blue Dorm Alexis had forgotten to take her makeup off before going swimming with Jasmine and Mindie and it had run terribly. Jasmine declared that she looked like a victim from a particularly gory horror movie and Mindie had sympathized saying that somebody should make water proof makeup. On the way back to her room, however, she had run into Chazz who nearly had a fit, thinking that somebody had beaten her up. It had taken Alexis five whole minutes to calm the other student down. When she was finally able to explain that it was nothing – her makeup had just run rather badly – Chazz had just stared at her rather blankly and then blurted out: "What's that?" And promptly turned rather red with embarrassment. That had certainly been an interesting conversation… Definitely _not _what she'd been expecting him to ask at the time.

Finishing off her last few bites of rice, Alexis pushed her tray back and lay the book that she had brought with her open on the table so that she could continue to read. This time she was positive that those had been water marks on the pale teenager's face and not just a trick of the light – especially if other people had noticed them as well. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her stalkee, as Alexis had started to think of him – he had looked pretty awful when he'd trudged into the dorm's cafeteria covered in mud and soaked to the skin. Ah well, at least she had some more evidence to confirm her suspicions. Either that or she was going crazy.

--

Chazz turned on the shower to let the water heat up before stripping off his bedraggled clothes. They fell to the tiled floor with a distinctly watery sounding slap, sending out a small spray of muddy droplets in protest of his treatment of them. He didn't really care at that moment.

Rain had never affected him like this before. Until now he had always liked rain.

With a long sigh, he stepped into rush of warm water and leaned his forehead against the wall directly beneath the shower head, letting the heat slowly ease some of the tension out of his body. What was going on? What was happening to him? It was like the ache to Change never went away anymore – it was always there pounding dully through his limbs, never letting him have a moment's rest. The sensation gnawed on his nerves, shattered his concentration, and made him at times so oblivious to his surroundings and tired that he was practically walking into walls. Chazz was getting so desperate for some piece of mind that he was almost tempted to ask Professor Banner if he could barrow a couple of books on Merchildren, but he wasn't quite desperate enough to actually go through with the idea.

Sinking to his knees, Chazz watched dully as dirty streams and droplets slid down off the ends of his hair. His eyelids drooped; he was so tired. Curling himself into a ball, he closed his eyes, allowing the comforting pounding of the warm water to sooth him to sleep.

--

Alexis sat at her desk contemplating the paper in front of her thoughtfully. Rain was a wonderful thing – especially when there was lots of it, enough to flood sections of the school. Normally, she would have been annoyed if afternoon lessons had been cancelled due to weather but today she didn't mind. Besides, she hadn't been able to concentrate on the teachers that day and lunch break probably wouldn't have had a profound effect on her attention span at the moment.

Smiling to herself, Alexis stuck her pencil behind her ear and prepared reread what she had written down. Alexis stared at the list she had compiled of characteristics of Merchildren out of water from all of the books from the library and the ones she had barrowed from Professor Banner with an incredibly pleased expression on her face. Time to see what matched up and what didn't.

Unusually pale skin. Check – Chazz was so pale he was practically translucent.

Dark lining around the eyes, upper and lower. Check – when she'd first met him, she had been positive that he wore eye liner, but upon later investigation it had turned out he didn't.

Long, thin fingers and toes. Well, Alexis didn't know about toes but that was definitely another check for fingers.

Awkward around others, have troubles expressing true emotions, very internal, shy. Uh… maybe? She chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip as she thought about this. Chazz wasn't exactly someone she'd describe as 'shy'… abrasive maybe, but not shy. He wasn't exactly a whiz at social interaction, though. Alexis groaned at the memory of the 'love duel' Atticus had talked Chazz into challenging her to the year before. She was still ticked at her brother about that. That had been humiliating; though, it would probably fall under the category of 'has troubles expressing true emotions' along with the perpetually blank expression Chazz wore most of the time.

She continued down the list mentally checking off nearly everything. Right, Alexis had gathered all the evidence she needed to convince herself that she was correct. Now, all that was left to do was to test her theory.

_A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll try to post the next chapter more quickly!_


	3. Fin

It wasn't until the water in the shower finally ran cold that Chazz drifted awake. Reaching up he turned off the water before stretching with a yawn and rubbing his eyes drowsily. _Ugh… How long was I asleep? I've probably missed most of afternoon classes by now._ The aching need to Change had temporarily abated again after his rest but no doubt it would be back fairly promptly.

Grabbing a towel, Chazz wrapped it around his waist as he stepped out onto the cold, white tiles of the bathroom floor. Something felt… _wrong_, but he could quite put his finger on what it was. He glanced at mirror but it was too fogged up with steam to show anything but indistinct blotches of color. Shrugging to himself, Chazz pulled another towel off of the wrack beside him and began to dry his face.

"Hey, Boss!"

Chazz let out a small yelp of surprise before glaring at Ojama Yellow who had just popped into existence above his right shoulder. The irritating duel spirit was looking as cheerful as ever which only succeeded in making the youngest Princeton feel even more annoyed.

"What?" he snapped.

"Oh, me and Black and Green were wondering if this means you're a fish!"

Silence reigned for several moments.

"Why would you think I was a fish?" asked Chazz slowly, in what he thought was a very calm and collected manner but was really more of a snarl.

"Well, you've got that great big fin on your back and-"

"WHAT?!?" The mirror was desperately rubbed free of fog and confirmed, to Chazz's horror, what the Ojama had just said. The tall, spiky dorsal fin that normally only appeared when he Changed arched down his spine like a wave. Blast it all! This had never happened before! Snatching a hairdryer from the cabinet beneath the sink he quickly plugged it into the wall socket and waited impatiently for it to warm up, repeating over and over again to himself that once he was dry the fin would go away. Panic was still rising like bile in his throat. Not even Jaden would have tried to bother Chazz in the state he was in.

"So _are_ you a fish, Boss?" Of course, nobody had ever noted Ojamas for their intelligence.

With an aggravated snarl, Chazz whirled around to face Ojama Yellow, pointing the switched off hairdryer directly between the thing's eyes like a gun.

"You've got three seconds to disappear before I turn this thing on high!"

The Ojama didn't need to be told twice after hearing the tone in the duelist's voice. With a squeaky "You've got it, Boss!" it disappeared with a faint pop. Allowing his shoulders to relax slightly, Chazz returned his attention once more to the fin on his back. He didn't want to use a towel on it because that would more than likely damage the thin webbing between the boney spikes, so the hairdryer was the safest bet. He'd only recently discovered the adverse effect of this particular electrical appliance on duel spirits and he now always kept one with him when doing homework in his room – it guaranteed no Ojama interruptions, though Jaden interruptions were still impossible to avoid.

_A/N: Apologies for the incredible shortness – next one will be longer and more quickly updated._


End file.
